The
Watergate Cantata (abridged version 1998)
by
Steven Holloway
This performance of the Watergate Cantata in March '98 is the Canadian premiere of the work and marked the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the Ervin-Baker Senate Committee hearings on which the drama is based. Indeed, most of the text of the songs comes verbatim from the transcripts of those public hearings. This performance was an abridged version of the original work: some songs were cut back and a few numbers were removed resulting in a total performance time under 45 minutes.
The general "story line": in the first
song the narrator describes events from the break-in at the Watergate to
the Senate's creation of a committee of inquiry. All the remaining action
takes place in the Senate Committee room. Since the Democratic Party controlled
the Senate at this time, the investigation is chaired by a senior Democrat
Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina. Senator Gurney, a Republican, was
President Nixon's loyalist supporter on the committee. In order, the committee
hears from Maurice Stans the CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President)
Finance Chairman, about alleged misuse of campaign contributions. Then
come the revelations of John Dean showing the involvement of the President
himself in the coverup. In the questioning of the technician, Alex Butterfield,
Gurney ironically stumbles on to the existence of the "Nixon Tapes". Ervin's
request for the tapes is rebuffed, "A rather remarkable letter" and he
compares Watergate to the Civil War ("I think that Watergate..."). The
narrator sings of how the "Fear of Bugs" is a common Washington complaint
as seen in the testimony of Gordon Strachan. Then Nixon's closest aide
comes out fighting (Ehrlichman!) and a brief comic fantasy (Dances of the
lawyers) follows. Ervin ends with a final judgment of the President's "Men
Upon Whom Fortune Had Smiled."
List
of the musical numbers in order:
| Name | Cast members | Composer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1) | Overture | Holloway | |
| 2) | Mandate of Heaven | Narrator | Holloway |
| 3) | An Atmosphere of Utmost Gravity... | Ervin & Chorus | Holloway |
| 4) | Maurice Stans Testimony: | ||
| 4a) | Hold, Senators | Narrator & Chorus | Sullivan |
| 4b) | Very Model Modern Finance | Stans & Chorus | Sullivan |
| 4c) | Murder Meritorious | Ervin & Stans | Sullivan |
| 4d) | Harassment | Gurney & Ervin | Schubert |
| 4e) | Reprise, VMMFC | Stans & Chorus | Sullivan |
| 5) | John Dean's Testimony | Dean | Holloway |
| 7) | Butterfield's Testimony | Butterfield, Dash, Gurney | Various |
| 8) | Remarkable Letter | Narrator, Ervin | Holloway |
| 9) | I Think That Watergate | Ervin | Purcell |
| 11) | Fear of Bugs | Narrator, Dash, Strachan | Holloway |
| 12) | Ehrlichman | ||
| 12a) | The Investigations | Narrator | Wagner |
| 12b) | I am here... | Ehrlichman | Wagner |
| 13) | Dance of the Lawyers | 4 Lawyers | Holloway |
| Pavanne, MayPole, Fence | |||
| 15) | Men Upon Whom Fortune | Ervin, Chorus | Holloway |
Performance
22 March 1998
as
part of Theatre Antigonish One Act Play Festival
Cast:
| Narrator | Jane Proctor |
| Senator Ervin | Keith Hagerman |
| M. Stans & A. Butterfield | Robert Murray |
| Senator Gurney | Ronald A. MacDonald |
| J. Dean & G. Strachan | Peter MacDonald |
| S. Dash | Brook McLaughlin |
| J. Ehrlichman | Travis Ferris |
Chorus: Judy Aalto, Page Hunter, Christine
MacDonald, Allen Murray, Andrea Snow, Bonnie Quinn, John Quinn, and Sarah
Stouffer
| Director | Steven Holloway |
| Keyboards | Brent Bannerman |
| Projectionist | Hubert Spekkens |